Businesses, especially those that are publicly traded, have spent a lot of time and money on systems for internal control over financial reporting. And, in response to the 2004 update of the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines, many companies of all types and sizes have invested to modernize their compliance and ethics programs. A good question for all of us, then, is: Can this time and money be leveraged to realize benefits beyond mere compliance?
Think about it another way: As we drive toward objectives, we must stay within boundaries. One boundary is the mandated boundary that includes laws, rules, and regulations. Much of our work has been focused here. Another boundary is the voluntary boundary that includes our brand, internal policies, procedures, and contractual obligations — things that we choose to do and aspire to be. Can we use one set of processes and technology to guide conduct so that we operate between both the mandated and voluntary boundaries?
